Last Chance
by WhiteSheWolf17
Summary: "So this is the end, he thought. The rain finally won my inner battle. Ichigo reluctantly closed his eyes, accepting his death as the rain continued to drown him relentlessly." With a serious threat closing in, can Rukia confess her feelings to Ichigo before it's too late? Or does fate have other plans? Summary may change. IchiRuki.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Happy birthday, Rukia!**_

_**~ / ~ / ~ / ~**_

Rain. That's all that was in view in the cold night. The black clouds billowed like smoke and thunder shook the concrete. Ichigo ran through town as the rain kept hammering him. His clothes were drenched and clinging to his body as his bright orange hair dripped into his eyes, blurring his vision. He ran across the road, freezing, but not feeling the cold numb his muscles. He was so overcome with grief that he didn't see the car that was barreling down the road.

"Shit!" He stopped dead in his tracks as the headlights blinded him, his brain screaming for him to move. He heard the squeal of the breaks protest against the wet pavement and in the next second the impact hit. It sent Ichigo sprawling backward. The back of his head smacked against the cement causing the wind to be knocked out of him. Black spots enveloped his vision and he could feel blood pooling underneath him.

_So this is the end_, he thought. The rain finally won my inner battle. Ichigo reluctantly closed his eyes, accepting his death as the rain continued to drown him relentlessly.

_King, you sure are weak. All this over her death?_

Ichigo ignored the unwanted voice and drifted off, into the quiet abyss of nothing.

_**~ / ~ / ~ / ~**_

"Ichigo!" I shouted, bolting upright on the bed and clutching the comforter with white knuckles. Gasping for air, the nightmare of Ichigo dying was too much to bear. My heart pounded harmfully against my chest as I tried to steady my breathing and wiped my clammy forehead with the back of my hand. It was fine, I told herself. It was only a dream. But still…it seemed so _real_.

Regaining some composure, I pulled back the blanket and slowly got out of bed. I headed out of the room, still trying to wrap my mind around the image. I shuddered.

My feet soon touched the cold grass of the Kuchiki garden and I stopped under one of the cherry blossom trees. Walking around in the night air to calm my thoughts, I made a drastic decision. I would just pay him a quick visit in the World of the Living. If he was asleep I would just check to make sure he was fine and then leave unnoticed. If he was awake…

I didn't want to think where that would lead. Just seeing his face would have me running into his arms. Ichigo would obviously like me in his embrace but that was not how a Kuchiki behaved. I had to be strong, look him in the eye with my unreadable mask and tell him to wait just a while longer. This mission would only last a few more days. At the end of the week, I would be his.

Smiling slightly at the thought, I ran back to the Manor, quiet enough not to disturb Nii-sama. Sliding open my door, I changed into my shihakusho and grabbed my Zanpakuto. Just as I was fastening Sode No Shirayuki around my waist, the distant sound of footsteps echoed outside.

Nii-sama, I realized. Taking a deep breath and squaring my shoulders, I slid back open the door and met Byakuya's cold gray eyes.

"Rukia."

"Nii-sama, I'm sorry for waking you. I would like to inform you that I will be paying the Living World a quick visit…if that's okay with you?" I didn't want it to come out as a question, but when his gaze hardened in the middle of my sentence, I lost my adrenaline.

"You're visiting Kurosaki," he stated.

"Yes, Nii-sama."

To my utter surprise, Byakuya regarded me with a neutral expression and gave a curt nod before turning around and walking in the direction he came. I let out a soft breath that I didn't know I was holding and walked the opposite way.

_**~ / ~ / ~ / ~**_

Arriving, I saw that his bedroom light was on even though it was close to four in the morning. Knowing Ichigo, it wasn't particularly odd. Maybe he also had a nightmare?

I jumped up to his window and saw his hunched back to me as he was sitting on his bed with his head in his hands. I gave a tentative knock and Ichigo suddenly jumped to his feet and spun to face the window. His eyes widened as he saw my face.

"Rukia! Where were you?" he demanded as he opened the window.

"Ichigo, calm down," I answered, sliding through onto the bed. I sat down and looked up at his anxious eyes. "What do you mean 'where was I'?"

"I mean, you just disappeared!" he tried to shout quietly so his younger sisters wouldn't wake as he stood in front of me.

"No, I didn't," I reasoned, "I left you a note."

"Yeah, but I didn't get a chance to read it, Kon ate it!"

"What? Why? I actually had a masterpiece of pictures on that!"

A tight smile appeared on Ichigo's face. "He was upset."

"So he ate it?"

"He's weird."

"I guess it can't be helped."

Ichigo stared at me a second more before smiling and shaking his head. He settled on the bed next to me. "Rukia…" he stared into my eyes and I couldn't help but hold my breath. Did he miss me that much? Ichigo was known to be quite stubborn and mask his feelings, but here he was, inches away from my face.

Like two magnets being drawn together, I leaned in slightly and Ichigo slowly brought up his hand to cup my cheek. His amber eyes flitted down to my lips and he leaned in even further.

He's going to kiss me, I realized and when we were millimeters away from touching, the unthinkable happened.

_**~ / ~ / ~ / ~**_

_**A/N: Trying my luck with another story! Since Collapsed is becoming quite popular I figured to continue my streak and just write more. Since this plot is in its early stage, I don't quite have a full summary yet. I'm not even sure what's going to happen or how it's going to end. Mainly I write whatever comes to mind and go from there. The plot will depend on you; the readers!**_

_**Review what you would like to see or happen! Thanks! With that said; REVIEW ;)**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Thanks for following: Phantom Claire, michi nolet, Kam-new-Lebron, LAWLS117, BosRonald, MaidOfTime, digimonfan18, and RobinXZatanna!**_

_**Thanks for favoring: Phantom Claire, The-snowy-white-wolf, and Keegan.K92!**_

_**Thanks for reviewing: Phantom Claire and Kohryu!**_

_**Chapter 529 of Bleach was WAS AMAZING! Rangiku, Toshiro, and Isshin! Whoa!**_

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A loud crash was heard from what sounded like the kitchen. My eyes snapped open and I jerked back just as Ichigo was lurching to his feet. In my haste, I awkwardly scrambled up from the bed and landed on my feet as Ichigo was already racing out the door. I started forward but a wave of black erupted in my vision and I brought my hands out to steady my dizziness. That was weird…I shook my head, trying to clear my vision and I took off after him.

Feels like déjà vu, I thought, remembering when I first came to the World of the Living on a mission and coming into Ichigo's room and saving his family from a Hollow. Great, there had better not be a Hollow here! My Soul Phone didn't even go off. If that was becoming faulty, I would have to have a little talk with Urahara.

"What the hell?" I heard Ichigo growl and a second later, I skidded to a halt next to him and saw what he was seeing.

There seemed to be two people, a male and a female, in some kind of tussle on the floor.

"You big idiot!" the girl shrieked. "Look what you did! You didn't have to break the window!"

The man shouted back, "Well if you weren't so annoying I wouldn't of had to!" He avoided another blow to his face.

"You're so dumb! That doesn't even make sense!" she replied and efficiently landed a blow in his side.

"Hey!" Ichigo yelled at the two battling it out on the kitchen floor, knocking over a few chairs and getting dangerously close to a vase sitting on a coffee table. They froze and the girl sprang to her feet, her face flushed either from anger or exhaustion.

I started at them, confusion etching itself on my face. "Kiyone. Sentaro. What is the meaning of this?" I demanded.

Kiyone stood a little taller and cleared her throat. "Rukia, on behalf of our captain, he ordered me—"

"Me as well," Sentaro coughed and stood up.

Kiyone balled her hand in a fist and flashed it in front of his face. "Hey! I was TALKING!"

"But with your annoying voice, Rukia won't be able to understand!" he asserted.

"Don't even START with annoying voices!"

I was growing frustrated each passing second. These two really needed to calm down. How could anyone concentrate around these two? Ichigo and I weren't this bad…were we? I shuddered at the thought. From the corner of my eye, I could see Ichigo with clenched fists and his signature scowl plastered on his face. "Rukia, do something!" he pleaded.

I decided to intervene for the sake of Ichigo's sanity. "Hey! Settle down, you two! What about Captain Ukitake?"

The two of them finally fell quiet at the mention of the captain. Though, before one of them could answer, the sound of feet running into the room and a horrified Yuzu cut them off.

"Ichi-nii, what was that? Did you break the window?" she asked, looking slightly frightened as she looked from the glass littering the floor, to the wide open window, and then finally to Ichigo and the toppled over chairs.

Ichigo looked confused for a second until he must have realized that Yuzu couldn't see the chaos in front of her. I wasn't in my Gigai and Kiyone and Sentaro didn't have one. As far as Yuzu could tell, it was Ichigo alone, standing in the kitchen with clenched fists and glaring at the broken window.

"Umm," Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck. "It just shattered."

"Really?" she squinted her eyes. "You sure it has nothing to do with Rukia-san?"

Ichigo's movements froze and I stared at Yuzu in shock. "What?" Ichigo asked her.

Yuzu placed her hands on her small waist. "I'm not deaf, Ichigo. I heard you shout her name out."

"Ichigo!" I hissed. "She thinks I did this! Tell her I didn't!" The last thing I needed was for the Kurosaki family to hate me for destruction of property!

Ichigo seemed to debate for a second, probably trying to come up with a logical explanation. When a smirk spread across his lips, I realized I wouldn't like what he came up with. "Yup, the midget did this," he affirmed.

"You asshole!" I screamed and tackled him to the ground. This took him by surprise and he fell on his back with me on top.

Yuzu backed up slowly. "Uh, I'll leave you two be. Karin!"

"Now she thinks we're doing something!" I yelled, watching her retreating form running up the stairs.

"Well you're the one that tackled me!" Ichigo defended.

"Heh," Sentaro laughed. "And I thought we were annoying, Kiyone."

"You still are," I heard her mumble and I blinked. Crap. We were just as bad. With the little dignity I had, I clambered to my feet up off his chest, cautiously not to…touch anything, and dusted myself off.

"Right…well." I started down at Ichigo who smirked suddenly as he sat up. I raised an eyebrow at him as he leaned forward and crouched before then lunging. He grabbed me around the waist and knocked me down on my back. "Hey!" I shouted before his lips came crashing down on mine, silencing me. His lips were hungry and eager. My eyes widened before I found myself giving a small moan and throwing myself into the kiss. His cool tongue touched mine and that's when my mind shut down. My brain couldn't seem to process this. I was being kissed. I was being kissed by _Ichigo_. I was being kissed by Ichigo_ in front of_ _Kiyone and Sentaro_! I tensed at realizing I was performing in public affection. Only a few seconds had to of passed before Ichigo pulled back and braced himself on his hands that were splayed on either side on my head. He stared down at me with a sort of devious admiration.

"I was suppose to do that a long time ago," he whispered.

"Nii-sama is going to kill you for that," I threatened. THIS wiped that stupid smirk off his face and he blinked, pulling himself off me to his knees. I sat up and stared at him. "What made you do that so suddenly? Don't get me wrong, I've been waiting for that for ever, but it didn't seem like you."

"Rukia…" he looked at me with sadness swimming in his eyes before looking down at his hands and he just seemed to slump as if he was exhausted. "I'm so sorry."

"Whoa, hold on," I took his hand and forced him to look into my eyes. "Why the sudden mood change? Why are you apologizing?"

He frowned. "Because that wasn't me."

I sighed. "I'll admit that didn't seem like you, but maybe your testosterone got the best of you," I joked.

He didn't find this funny. "No, Rukia. I mean that literally wasn't me. That was…my Hollow."

* * *

_**A/N: Hehe, I'm loving Ichigo's dramatic pause at the end! Anyway, how was that? I liked it. A bit short but I feel like this story will be quite short—chapter wise. Please review so I know this story isn't a complete waste of time!**_

_**~WhiteSheWolf17**_


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